Editors' Summary (Editorial‪)‬

THE BROOKINGS PANEL ON ECONOMIC ACTIVITY held its eighty-ninth conference in Washington, D.C., on March 18 and 19, 2010. The recent financial crisis and ensuing recession continue to dominate the minds of leading economists, and this conference was no exception. Three of the papers in this volume assess macroeconomic developments in light of these remarkable events, examining the downturn in the U.S. labor market, the vulnerability of the financial system, and the spread of the crisis to emerging market countries. In each case the authors illustrate how economic institutions mediated the consequences of the macroeconomic shocks. A fourth paper, which addresses how best to measure GDP, is also highly relevant, showing that an alternative to the most commonly used measure would have yielded a clearer early warning of the size and scope of the U.S. downturn. The two remaining papers compile interesting new data that speak to ongoing longer-term debates about the balance between work and family and about health care reform. IN THE FIRST PAPER in this issue, Michael Elsby, Bart Hobijn, and Aysegul Sahin provide a heroic real-time analysis of recent labor market outcomes, comparing the recession that began in late 2007 with earlier downturns. All major measures of labor market conditions--including changes in unemployment, employment, participation, and hours--indicate that this most recent recession has been more severe than any since the Great Depression. The impact of the recession has been widespread, as unemployment tares among most major socioeconomic groups have exceeded previous postwar peaks.